Health, Safety and Environment Review

Supervisors are responsible for ensuring the safety of all personnel involved in animal research, particularly when handling chemical, biohazard, and radiation agents. While risk management for these agents is typically conducted at the laboratory level, it is crucial that these hazards are also included in the ethics applications.

The Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) office will review these project-specific hazards concurrently with the Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC) review. This HSE review is distinct from the general chemical and biosafety measures managed within the lab or facility.

Safe Work Practices

An animal safe work practice (SWP) describes the minimum health and safety infrastructure and operational practices for research involving animals. The SWPs are intended to assist researchers with the EHS portion of the animal use protocol (AUP) application, and to simplify and expedite the process.

For those involved in field research, it is mandatory to complete the Field Research Safety courses and file a Field Safety Training and Approval Process form. This ensures that all fieldwork is conducted with the necessary precautions to protect both the researchers and the environment.